VOYA or SLF: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

Investors interested in Insurance - Life Insurance stocks are likely familiar with Voya Financial (VOYA) and Sun Life (SLF). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Currently, Voya Financial has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Sun Life has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This means that VOYA's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

VOYA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.13, while SLF has a forward P/E of 12.27. We also note that VOYA has a PEG ratio of 0.57. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. SLF currently has a PEG ratio of 1.75.

Another notable valuation metric for VOYA is its P/B ratio of 1.04. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, SLF has a P/B of 2.4.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to VOYA's Value grade of B and SLF's Value grade of C.

VOYA has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than SLF, so it seems like value investors will conclude that VOYA is the superior option right now.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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